A Burning Flame
by SerikalasQuill
Summary: Hermione Finds out she has a brother. But with that revalation a series of unexpected things happen. Why is it that suddenly Hermione has powers that even the greatest wizards havent heard of?
1. Chapter 1

It was one of those days where no one really wanted to do anything. The day had a lazy feel to it and Hermione wasn't one to pass up staying in bed on days like this. Looking around the room she almost wished she hadn't woken up for she was having the weirdest dream. It involved a dark house all made of wood. On the wood were inscriptions. She could only understand parts of it though. Hermione tried to remember what she understood but now that she was fully awake the dream was fading from her memory.

_Oh, well_ she thought. She listened for the sound of her parents and then spotted a note on the dresser. Getting up quickly she went and got it and returned to bed. Reading it she found out that her parents had gone early morning shopping and they would probably be back by the time she got up.

"Fat chance of that happening." She commented. She knew that once her parents went shopping they didn't return until they had brought the whole store. Today wasn't going to be any different.

Hermione decided to go get cleaned up and eat some breakfast in bed. So she quickly went and had a shower, brushed her teeth and made herself some toast. Dashing up the stairs she got back into her now cold bed and grabbed a book from her bedside table.

She searched for her place in the book when she heard the doorbell ring. She wasn't particularly interested in getting up and answering the door when the bell began ringing again without pause. Letting out an angry groan she walked down the stairs slowly. "I'm, coming!"

Opening the door she gasped, "Malfoy!" Quickly, purely by reflex she went to slam the door on his face. He must have been anticipating her reaction because he put his hands up to block it just in time. "Hey."

Malfoy didn't waste any time replacing the bored look on his face with his usual smirk. He quickly glanced at her angry face before looking her up and down with obvious disgust. Hermione was itching to slap him and ruin his perfect face but she help back, curious as to why he was here.

"Granger, I _really _don't want to be here, any more than you want me to be here. You see I am here on special orders to take you home." He let that hang in the air awhile and when Hermione was about to reply he cut her off continuing. "Be a good girl and get your stuff ready while I talk with your parents." He instructed.

"If you think I am leaving you alone with my parents for one moment Malfoy you are delusional." She almost screeched. "Besides you idiot I _am _home. And anyway, my parents aren't here. So leave"

Again she tried closing the door on him but just like before he was again prepared for that. The only difference this time was that her anger was making him so amused that he burst out laughing. Glaring at him Hermione wondered how many times she could hit him before he hurt her. The odds were against her so she pushed the thought aside. Maybe when he was leaving she could hex him. She was considering that option when he spoke again.

"Listen Granger, be of use and get me a pen and paper. I don't like this but I'll write down what I wanted to tell them." He gave her an exasperated sigh when he saw she didn't move. Hermione watched him look quickly at his watch and thought she saw his face tense up. "NOW!" Malfoy yelled making her step back abruptly.

He sized the opportunity to quickly step inside. Hermione looked at him suddenly and yelled, "Get out. NOW." She didn't waste a moment and tried pushing him out the door, but she would have had better luck with a brick wall. As much as she would deny it to herself later, she was amazed and disgusted at the same time by the feel of his body. He was toned and strong and here she was trying to push him.

"Get off me Granger." He spat grabbing her arms and throwing them away from himself. Hermione staggered back but didn't back down. She glared at him as he began walking around in her house. She was tempted to grab the vase next to her and hit him on the head, but she felt that he guessed what she was planning when he reached for it and moved it away from her.

Outside Hermione heard the sound of crunching gravel. Someone was pulling up in her drive way and she ran to the door. Opening it she saw her parents. They looked out at her and smiled. Then suddenly their smiles disappeared when Malfoy appeared next to her at the door. She watched then get out of the car and look at her questioningly. She didn't have to wonder why. Hermione knew her parents didn't like the idea of letting a teenage boy inside the house when she was home alone. It didn't seem right.

Hermione laughed at the thought. Her parents should be more worried about her being arrested when she was within feet of Malfoy, not worried what her crazy hormones might make her do. She had never told them what Malfoy had been doing to her and her friends all these years. She figured it would be best if they believe she was as happy as could be.

"Hermione dear, who is your friend?" her mother asked approaching her. Hermione felt Malfoy's body shake with laughter beside her. Opening her mouth to reply she was stopped when Malfoy spoke up.

"Hello, I'm Draco Malfoy. I go to school with Hermione." He answered in his most polite voice. Hermione's mothers' eyes widened and then she smiled. She realised that to her mothers eyes Draco was a polite young boy. Hermione almost screamed that it was all a lie. That this person before them is being raised to kill people like her and her parents.

"How nice. Are you good friends?" Rolling her eyes Hermione retreated into the house.

_Great now they love him. They will listen to whatever stupid story he has to tell them. Arghh_ Hermione paced around the kitchen. Suddenly she realised she had left her parents alone with Draco Malfoy. Running she was greeted by an unusual sight. Malfoy was carrying some shopping inside and was laughing along with her parents.

"Mum! Dad! What?" she screamed. They both looked at her like something was wrong. Malfoy said something to them and approached her. Anger sizzled up inside her taking over her previous surprise.

"What's wrong mudblood?" He smirked at her. He raised one eyebrow up and looked at her waiting for her reply. Her parents were standing by the door looking at her and leaving her no chance to say what she wanted.

"Nothing's wrong _Malfoy_." She sneered and walked to her parents. "Need help?"

"No honey we're done." Her mother said and closed the door. Turning to Malfoy she asked, "Would you like anything to eat? Drink?"

"No I'm ok Mrs Granger." He smiled before adding. "Actually I came here because I need to speak with you."

Hermione watched as her dad became interested suddenly and motioned for Malfoy to sit down. She didn't want to hang around and hear what stupid story he would come up with so she walked away.

"Sir, I think maybe Hermione needs to hear this too." Malfoy suddenly added, causing her to whip her head around to fast she heard her neck crack. "It's important."

Slowly without much desire to do so she sat down in the remaining armchair and brought her knees up to her chin. The atmosphere had changed in the last few minuted but she was too preoccupied to notice.

"What is it you want to speak to us about?" Her mother asked quickly.

"Well I was told today that I am supposed to take Hermione home." He said and waited for their reactions. Hermione laughed and received angry glares from both her parents and Malfoy.

"What!? You don't honestly believe this do you?" when she didn't receive any replies she continued more urgently. "Mum, Dad this is ridiculous. I _am _home. Aren't I?"

"Honey we meant to tell you this years ago. It was just that there was never a good time to say it." Her mum began and Hermione stood up. She suddenly didn't want to hear this. "'Mione, we are not your birth parents. We wish that we were, but unfortunately that isn't possible. Sweetie, you are adopted. But not in the traditional sense."

This revelation made Hermione bolt out of the room. She was half way up the stairs before someone grabbed her.

"No, you have to hear this Granger. Whether you want to or not." Malfoy breathed in her ear and led her to the living room again. Not looking at anyone Hermione went and sat down again.

"Sorry." She muttered and waited for her mother to continue.

"That's ok sweetie. Well I was pregnant but I gave birth to a still born. At the hospital a woman came and told me she had given birth to twins, but they were not able to keep them both. She told me I could take one, the girl, and pretend that I had given birth to you." Her mother stopped. Hermione felt her face turn white and dumbness enter her head, but she didn't say anything hoping that her mother would continue. "Well I complained about the hospital records and all the legal reasons why I couldn't, and offcourse I argued with her because it wasn't morally right to take another's baby, but she said she and her husband could take care of everything and it would be for the best. Slowly I agreed and we came hope with a baby girl."

Hermione didn't say anything. She slowly stood up and walked away from them. This wasn't what she had expected to ever hear from her parents. _She _was adopted. Her own birth mother hadn't wanted her. She was like a toy moving from one person to the next. The numbness in her head got worse. She wasn't paying much attention to her surrounds and was suddenly surprised when the floor came up to meet her face.

"Granger." Someone growled behind her. She was lifted up but didn't say anything still. She walked to her room and slammed the door locking it. "Let me in Granger." But she still refused to unlock the door.

She felt tears streaking down her face and she wiped them away. She was feeling sorry for herself and she hated it but at the same time she couldn't help it. She wasn't wanted by her own family, yet complete strangers had raised her and they must have wanted her. Hermione didn't even bother asking who her real parents were. She wasn't interested in ever meeting them and getting to know them.

Slowly she got up and moved to the door, she had to get away for a while. Unlocking the door she was greeted by Malfoys annoying sneer. Without looking at him she went around his tall frame and headed for the stairs.

"You're ungrateful you know that." He said casually. She ignored him and he took it as an invitation to continue. "These people here raised you and took care of you. And now you are about to run away and try and forget about them. You want to act as if they are monsters? You are the monster here."

She turned and slapped him hard enough to leave a dark red mark on his face. It also left him wondering what happened before he became furious. Hermione didn't care she just walked down the remainder of the stairs and was surprised to see her parents where they were sitting before. For a moment she felt guilty about how she acted but that moment passed. She wanted answers.

"Why?" she asked straight away.

"Hermione you have to understand that this. Nothing has changed. We love you probably more than your own parents do. I know that there is no excuse for never telling you but you have to understand it was hard for us." Her dad replied sounds so completely sad that for a moment she wondered if she wasn't acting as ungrateful as Malfoy had said.

"Look I know this is a family moment but we really have to go and you two have to hide soon. I honestly don't know how long it would be before they get here so you best leave now." Malfoy said quickly.

"They?" Hermione asked. She really wasn't in the mood to have any more surprised sprung on her. "Who's 'They'?"

Before anyone could answer a loud bang was heard from the door. The muffled voices scared Hermione more than the fact that Malfoy grabbed her and dashed her upstairs, locking the door to her room. He motioned for her to be silent when she turned to him, and for once she listened.

She began trembling as she heard voices and screams come from downstairs and suddenly she heard the creaking of someone walking up the stairs. Moving as far away from the door as she could she quickly thought to get her wand. Grabbing it she walked up to the door and before Malfoy could stop her she opened it and walked out.

Silence now filled the house and she gasped as she looked around and the ruins before her. Her carpet was torn. Red marks stained the floor, and she avoided thinking that it was her parent's blood. Walking hesitantly down the stairs she let out a sob as she looked at the torn couches, the broken picture frames. Her mothers' favourite curtains were shredded and burnt.

"Who?" she said lifelessly.

"They. The ones that found out a month ago who your real parents were. I was told to come and get you today because they were planning on killing you. If you hadn't been such an ungrateful bitch then your parents would have gotten away." He replied and searched the rest of the house. "Go pack some stuff so we can leave." He said and walked outside.

It didn't take long for Hermione to pack a small bag of clothes and belongings. She didn't really want to take many things with her because they were filled with childhood memories that she felt were fake now. She took one look around the room and only then realised that she was still in her pyjamas. Changing quickly she didn't worry much about what she was putting on. She grabbed her trackies and a jumper, tied her wild hair up and left the house, pausing long enough to close the door behind her.

She looked around and spotted Malfoy leaning against a black sports car. _Figures_, she thought and walked towards him. He didn't say anything as he walked to the drivers' side, nor did he say anything for most of the drive to her new house. Maybe he was still pissed at her for hitting him. Hermione didn't regret it though and she wished that she had hurt him more.

"You're a pureblood." He said half an hour later. Hermione whipped her eyes in his direction and tried not to laugh.

"I've had enough jokes for one day Malfoy." She commented back simply.

"I'm not joking. You're a pureblood and you are in danger. I don't think you even realise how dangerous your situation is at the moment." His smirk was on his face suddenly. "Boy, I can't wait until you see where you live, your parents and your brother."

After that he wouldn't say anything else, no matter how many questions she asked him. She was beginning to get slightly nervous about meeting her parents. What were they like? Would they be happy to see her or will they kick her out? Did she know her brother? Did she hate him? All sorts of questions were beginning to buzz around in her head. Some questions brought on more question others she ignored.

Lost in her thoughts she barely noticed that the car was slowing down. Looking around she saw a forest and a clearing that showed a dark house. Suddenly she was greeted by a bad case of déjà vu. She felt as if she had been here before but that was impossible.

"Where are we?" she asked slowly still looking at the house.

She was amazed and horrified by it at the same time. It wasn't beautiful in the traditional sense of the word but it held its own dark beauty. There were rose bushes circling the house. From where she was she though the flowers were stained a deep red. The twilight was causing the windows to glisten like water. Approaching it she noticed the most unusual designs on the wood. Patters and spirals covered each individual piece of wood.

Malfoy saw her fascination. Hermione didn't notice him step up behind her. She was vaguely able to remember a dream that she had had where she was looking at a house such as this. Markings identical to the ones before her were also in her dream. Suddenly she stepped back. The houses trance on her was disrupted.

"They mean something. No one can ever understand what they mean though." Malfoy said behind her.

"I don't know what you are talking about." She said quickly. "What are we doing here?"

"Haven't you guessed yet? You live here." Malfoy laughed. She glared at him and then suppressed a shudder. This was her new home? It felt like a prison, but she didn't say anything. "Well then, I did my duty and brought you here. Just ring the doorbell. And get ready to meet you family."

She tried gathering all her courage and walked up to the door. She just jumped when she felt Malfoy behind her whisper, "I don't care what you are now. You will always be mudblood Granger to me." And he left.

Hesitantly with a shaky hand she rang the doorbell. Hermione thought that it seemed to vibrate through the entire house. She tried to calm her racing heart as she waited for someone to answer the door, and she almost jumped when suddenly a person appeared.

"About time you know. Mum and dad can't wait to see you." Said her brother. Blaise Zabini.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione was speechless. Before her stood Malfoys best friend and she was supposed to accept the fact that he was her brother? She could barely get her mind around the fact that the person before her was Blaise Zabini. Her legs didn't seem to work and she couldn't blame them. If she had a choice she would run as far away as she could. Her mind was automatically considering this to either be some kind of sick joke or a trap, but Blaises expecting face was proving her to be wrong.

It took a few minutes before her mind decided to command her uncooperative legs to move inside, and it took even longer till Hermione finally moved. Blaise moved out of the way and closed the door behind her. Straight away Hermione was engulfed in darkness that was only broken up by a few lamps placed along the wall. Other than that she could barely see in front of her.

Finally focusing on the guy next to her she was surprised to see him glaring at her. It took her a few moments to realise why. She wasn't acting excited about where she was and who she was meeting. Though in her defence no one could blame her. She had just been ripped away from her parents and been told her whole life was fake. Focusing her attention back to Blaise she returned his glare. Challenging him to say something to her. Instead though he just locked away.

Hermione decided to ignore him and continued looking around the house. Her initial reaction that everything was made of wood was correct. Paying more attention to detail around her, it seemed to her that the walls were covered in words, or at least symbols. Seeing as she could understand a few, Hermione should have felt a bit less nervous. Instead though she felt more scared than ever. What was worse was that when she looked at a dark patch to her left she thought she saw and outline forming.

"Hermione, dear. Aww… you have no idea what it means to see you again." She saw a tall man appear and guessed that it was he that had spoken. A closer look at him shocked her into realising that this was her father. Trying to pay more attention to him was proving quite hard though. He kept disappearing and appearing from the shadows. Just his face, which might have been cleanly shaven, looked dirty and as if surrounded by a black substance.

Hermione tried to keep her face clear of any emotion. She wasn't sure how this man before her would react if he realised how disgusted she was by him. What worried her more was that Blaise had kept his eyes on her the whole time. She didn't appreciate such scrutiny of her actions and she was about to say something before,

"Hermione!" a voice from somewhere to her right shrieked. Before Hermione had a chance to react she was pulled in a bone breaking hug. After a few moments, the time where usually people let go of the hug, Hermione realised that she was still being held just as tightly. Slowly she began running out of oxygen and if someone hadn't managed to pull her away from this crazy woman she was sure she would have passed out.

Hermione, now red faced, looked at both the people before her. The man was now standing next to a tall and slim woman who was identical to him. As Hermione tried focusing on her she realised that you couldn't look at the woman without everything on her blurring up. Realising this she wondered what was wrong. This was too weird even for Hermione. Her dad was one with the shadows and her mum was disappearing before her eyes. Why?

"Hermione what is wrong?" Her mother asked. Something about her voice gave Hermione chills. It almost sounded robotic. Hoping to be able to get away from them soon she answered.

"Nothing…" She mumbled. She was beginning to realise just how scared she was. She guessed that these people were her parents but she couldn't be sure. There was no resemblance between them and either her or Blaise. She was also beginning to question whether they were as nice as they appeared.

"What did you say _dear_?" The man asked politely, but his voice betrayed him. Hermione realised that this wasn't a man with much patience.

She decided that she had to pull herself together. She couldn't keep trying to avoid a conversation with them. And the longer she wasted with one word answers the longer she would have to remain in their presence. Slowly Hermione tried to gather up her confidence and tried looking at them in the eye. She would not let them intimidate her. Hermione was also trying to prove to Blaise that no matter what the situation she would always come out on top in the end.

"Oh sorry, I said nothing. Nothing is wrong. Just a bit shocked I guess." She replied. She thought that she had pleased them when she heard someone enter the room.

"What the?" she said and nearly had a heart attack. A black blob moved around her feet and the only way she was able to distinguish that is was an animal was by its cat eyes. Hermione didn't know what to make by all this. This family was too weird for her to belong with them.

Looking around she tried to find a possible means of escape. Maybe she could pretend she needed to go to the bathroom. Maybe she could convince them that it had been a long day and she was tired. Looking at each of their faces in turn she felt deflated. They didn't look as if they were going to let her leave. Not when she had just arrived there.

Hermione couldn't help but feel intimidated standing there in the shadows. She wasn't one to be scared of the dark or small spaces, but when those two were combined, she felt claustrophobia closing in. She nervously shifted her weight from one foot to another waiting in silent anticipation for either of the two people before her to talk. Slowly she felt her calm persona begin to crack. The day's events were rushing through her head so fast she felt light headed.

She turned her head slightly and looked at Blaise, begging silently with her eyes for him to help her get away from there. She looked again at her parents and found them still looking at her, waiting for her to say something.

"So, umm…" she started, hoping that someone would take the hint and begin talking.

"Yeah, Hermione. Want to go see your room?" Blaise said after a few more minutes. Hermione quietly thanked the heavens for this and nodded eagerly.

"Blaise!" her new mother snapped, causing both him and Hermione to shrink back. "Hermione has just joined us. She must be curious to know all about our family and all about herself. She has to be told of the circumstances that surrounded her birth and why we had to give her away. You know that."

Hermione hung her head in defeat. Now there was absolutely no means of escape. She looked at Blaise again but he avoided her eyes. Instead he followed his parents into, what Hermione supposed was a living room, and sat down. She tried hard to keep the anguish from her showing on her face, but all that had occurred that day had finally caught up with her and all she wanted was to be alone.

It was quiet a few hours later, when the sky had turned an angry purple, that the two people stopped talking. Hermione had gone into the house knowing only Blaises name and now she knew his entire history from ten generations back. She spent half the time holding her tongue as her new parents told her about their dreams of Blaise and her becoming power death eaters. She had barely said anything and was surprised that people could talk for that long without any interruption.

When finally she was allowed to leave she let out a small moan. Her head ached and every inch of her body felt beaten up. Her eyes were the size of disks and her eyebrows were furrowed in an effort to not scream. Never before had she felt as helpless as she had those past few hours. Never before had she been lost for words, too scared to say anything in fear of what the outcome could be. Hermione couldn't believe the situation in which she was in.

She heard shuffling feet behind her and turned to see Blaise approaching her. He mumbled a quick sorry about his parents before leading the way up the stairs. Hermione kept her eyes on him the whole way. Wondering if there was any resemblance between the two of them? She doubted it or else she would have seen it all these years at Hogwarts. She knew that she had probably inherited the family's brains while he had the family's looks. She didn't care though. Brains were more important in life than looks.

Noticing for the first time her surrounding, Hermione was instantly interested in the strange carvings on the walls. She caught glimpses of words like 'Haunting', 'Followers', 'Black', and at times phrases like, 'Red Night', 'She entrances all'. Although she could read the carvings, Hermione couldn't make any sense of them. She wondered if Blaise knew what any of these things meant. He must since he had been living here all his life.

"Blaise," she said quietly, still uncomfortable being on first name bases with him. "Do you realise that there are strange carvings on your wall?" she asked matter-of-factly.

Blaise turned to look at her but said nothing. She felt momentarily rooted to the spot by his angry glare and felt anger boiling inside. How dare he get angry with her! What happened to the happy Blaise that was excited to see her that morning? Why was she now stuck with moody and silent Blaise?

"We're here." He said after a few more minutes of walking around. Hermione was too busy trying to remember every twist and turn that they had made and ended up walking straight into him. She mumbled an apology and flinched when he glared at her again.

"Here where?" she asked angrily. She was no longer in the mood for his drastic personality changes.

"Your room." He replied just as fiercely, challenging her to continue.

"Oh." She said quietly and a slight blush crept to her cheeks.

He turned away after telling her what time dinner was and she was left standing alone in the dark hallway. She opened the door with a shaking and sweaty hand and gasped. She had expected the room to be twice the size of her old one, but seeing it before her was amazing. She was lost for words as she closed and locked the door quickly and began walking around gazing at everything. She wasn't surprised to find all her belonging in the draws and her school things there.

Chills ran up and down her back as she realised that what she had at first considered beautiful was rather haunting. Her canopy bed was black and the purple covers looked out of place. The poor light that was filtering into the room from outside cast long shadows across everything. Her mirror looked fogged up and dust lay on every flat surface of the room. The millions of tiny crystals on the chandelier were twinkling with the soft breeze.

Hermione entered her adjoining bathroom and was relieved to see that this at least looked normal with one exception. The mirror over the sink, although surrounded by and elegant wooded frame, was divided in two by an ugly crack running from on end to the other. Hermione found herself looking at a rather ugly contorted image of herself and shuddered. She was going to fix it, but now all she wanted was to have a hot shower and get in bed.

It didn't take long for her to find everything that she needed. Although she couldn't stay in her room long without getting chills. Hermione wondered if she was ever going to get used to this place. If she was ever going to be able to call it home? At that moment she dreaded the though of living here but under her current circumstances, she didn't have much choice. Getting out of the darkness as quickly as she could she sighed happily as she went into her bathroom and into the warm artificial light.

Nothing in the world could ever beat the feeling of the scalding water running down her skin. It was a needed escape from the pain she was experiencing at that moment. Hermione had not been in the shower for more than a minute before she began shivering uncontrollably. Tears mixed with water and ran down her face. Everything that had occurred that day flashed vividly in her mind. She was numb from both pain and exhaustion.

She cried hard for everything that she had lost that day. From her parents, to her room, to her life. She even cried for things like warm light filtering through her windows, and hearing the dogs barking in her street. She bent over double as her shivering increased and her sobs became louder. When she was finally in control of her body, and her crying had ceased, she got out of the shower and quickly glanced at the cracked mirror.

_I'm broken too_, she thought and got dressed quickly.

Walking numbly to her closet to look for something presentable to wear to dinner, Hermione noticed a rather out of place object on the bottom corner. Reached down she pulled out a small black book with a velvet cover. Curious she went over to her bed and sat down, intending to look it over quickly before returning to her previous task.

"Hello my name is Aurora and I am not your average teenage girl. I am thirteen years old and although one might mistake me for normal. I am anything but. I am a witch. And I have only a few hours to live.

As you just read that I know what went through your mind, but no, I am not sick. I believe that if I had some terminal illness I would have been much better off that how I am not. If I was sick I would be lying in a hospital bed with flowers and cards around me wishing me well. Heck, if I was sick I might have a chance of survival.

But no, I am not terminally ill at all. And im am not in a hospital. I am only in my room, in my house. Writing in this black diary what I know. I wish there was a chance or a way to change my future but there isn't. And the only thing that I can think of is writing down everything I know for someone else. Someone in the future to read and be guided to a better fate.

The reason that I will die is simple. I will die because I know the truth. I know the truth about my house. I know who put the messages on the walls and why my parents are shadows. I, stating it simply, will die because I know too much.

I guess now I have nothing to lose anymore. From here on I will cease writing my introduction and begin telling you my story. The story of Aurora…as I silently await death…"


End file.
